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Arlene Ackerman, who resigned Monday as superintendent of the 155,000-student Philadelphia district, said in an interview with Education Week Wednesday that political miscalculations led to her removal, not issues with job performance.

The two lists are valuable in the data they present, but they also should be viewed not "in isolation" but along with other factors, primarily a district's socio-economic status, said Muskegon Area Intermedate School District Superintendent Dave Sipka. "Unfortunately the rankings sort of parallel the socio-economic standings of communities," Sipka said. "It's one of those sad realities in life we see repeated over and over. In those communities, we need to rally around the schools and give them the support they need."

This was written by George Wood, principal of Federal Hocking High School in Stewart, Ohio, who this year is also taking on the role of superintendent of his small school district. He is executive director of the non-profit Forum for Education and Democracy, a collaboration of educators from around the country.

Last week at a school board meeting, Kansas City, MO School District superintendent John Covington told the school board that there is no research that supports reduced class size linked to increased student achievement. During the meeting, Covington  cited the views of Bill Gates, who has minimized the importance of class size and suggested that teachers be paid more for teaching larger classes.

State Superintendent for Public Instruction Tony Bennett will recommend state takeover of four Indianapolis Public Schools. Under Bennett's plan, each would be run by an outside organization beginning with the 2012-13 school year. They are: Emma Donnan Middle School, Manual High School and T.C. Howe High School, all of which would be managed by Charter Schools USA. The Florida-based company operates 29 charter schools in Florida, Georgia and Louisiana.

Steven Brill is a graduate of Yale Law School and the founder of Court TV, and in his new book, "Class Warfare," he brings a sharp legal mind to the world of education reform. Like a dogged prosecutor, he mounts a zealous case against America's teachers' unions. From more than 200 interviews, he collects the testimony of idealistic educators, charter school founders, policy gurus, crusading school superintendents and billionaire philanthropists. Through their vivid vignettes, which he pieces together in short chapters with titles like " 'Colorado Says Half of You Won't Graduate' " and "A Shriek on Park Avenue," Brill conveys the epiphanies, setbacks and triumphs of a national reform movement.

Many years ago, through no effort (or fault) on my part, I became--temporarily--a Famous Teacher. What was most astonishing about this experience: a wide range of people (from broadcast media figures to the district Superintendent) suddenly paid attention to what I had to say about education. I was phoned and asked my opinion when critical education issues emerged in Michigan. I was offered positions on statewide task forces and columns in the local newspaper. I even shot a TV commercial supporting an education funding initiative, and flew around the state with the Governor on a promotion tour. Good times.

A year ago yesterday, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to announce he was making an unprecedented $100 million donation to help reform Newark's struggling school system. A year later, the spending of the "Facebook money" - as it's become known in Newark - has gotten mixed reviews. The process got off to a bad start when the first $1 million was spent on a public survey that critics called a waste of money. That was followed by months of political missteps and public-relations debacles related to politically linked firms hired to help spend the donation. But in recent months, the Newark-Facebook team seems to have gotten its act together, according to interviews with community leaders and education experts inside and outside of New Jersey. With a new Newark schools superintendent on board and a new head for the nonprofit group overseeing the project, the first Facebook dollars are showing up in Newark classrooms.

Maybe the politicians finally understand. Last week the SUNY Charter Schools Institute, which makes recommendations to the New York State Department of Education, decided not to support a charter school proposed by Victory Education Partners in Brentwood. According to a report in Newsday , the superintendent of Brentwood schools "applauded the state's decision." The district is already financially hard-pressed. It lost $40 million in state aid during the last two years and was forced to lay off about 100 teachers.

This was written by William J. Mathis is the managing director of the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is a former Vermont school superintendent. This post is about a plan advanced by the Council of Chief State School Officers in June as a replacement for the school accountability system in No Child Left Behind. A few weeks ago Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced that he would grant states waivers from key provisions of NCLB as long as they embrace education reform that he favors.

These are some of the 17 new principals - 11 of them under age 40, 7 from outside Newark - recruited this year to run nearly a quarter of the city's schools. They were hired by Cami Anderson, the new schools superintendent, as part of an ambitious plan to rebuild the 39,000-student district, which has long been crippled by low achievement and high dropout rates, but now is flush with up to $200 million from prominent donors, including Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook.

A few weeks back, the Indiana Department of Ed opted to intervene in seven schools across Indiana. Six of the schools are in Indianapolis and one is in Gary. Of the seven, the Indiana Department of Ed is taking over five, and contracting with three different external operators to take the lead on these schools. The lever was provided by Public Law 221, which allows the state superintendent to bring in external turnaround school operators for a school that has received the state's lowest grade for six consecutive years. The operators are Edison Learning, EdPower, and Charter School USA. (The other two schools will remain under the auspices of the local school district.)

There had long been suspicions that cheating on state tests was widespread in the Atlanta public schools, but the superintendent, Beverly L. Hall, was feared by teachers and principals, and few dared speak out. Last summer a supposedly Blue Ribbon Commission, headed by a businessman volunteering his time, produced yet another flimsy report, urging further investigation.

State Secretary of Education Melody Schopp announced via conference call to superintendents today that South Dakota will hold its goals for proficiency in reading and math at 2009-10 levels, rather than bumping up those targets as previously anticipated. In addition, the state will reduce its graduation rate goal to 80 percent from the current target of 85 percent.

On July 5, Georgia released the results of a state investigation into suspicious test scores in the Atlanta public schools. The state reported that 178 educators in 44 of the district's 100 schools had facilitated cheating-often with the tacit knowledge and even approval of high-level administrators, including Atlanta's award-winning former superintendent Beverly Hall, who conveniently parked herself in Hawaii for the investigation's denouement.

"Nine months ago, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced a $100 million gift to improve public schools in Newark, N.J. The plan to spend the money is now taking shape, and a new superintendent is coming on board to lead the effort. But in New Jersey, initial jubilation over the gift has turned into protests, suspicion and a belief that students will never benefit from the money."

Republican Gov. Scott Walker and state education superintendent Tony Evers, a pair of politicians who have fought bitterly in the past year on issues ranging from vouchers to the union rights of teachers, are uniting to create a new system that will hold all publically funded schools in Wisconsin accountable for their success.

When they were recently asked whether the current administration is seeking to privatize public education, a couple of PA State Senators used the term "selective dismantling" in discussions with school board members and superintendents in Delaware County.

This was written by Randy Ross, who was a principal and teacher for over 43 years both in New York City and Great Neck, LI, as well as an assistant superintendent, professor at CCNY's School of Education and director of instruction and curriculum at the North Shore Hebrew Academy in Great Neck. Half of his career was in urban schools, half in suburban, and the last three years have been in private schools and higher education.

Video of Commissioner King's presentation at the NYSCOSS Fall Conference on Superintendent Leadership and the Regents Reform Agenda.